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Group B Roundup Valencia runs Reds ragged; Basel sinks SpartakPosted: Tuesday September 17, 2002 5:28 PMUpdated: Tuesday September 17, 2002 11:00 PM
VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) -- Valencia returned to the Champions League in fine style on Tuesday, first-half goals from Pablo Aimar and Ruben Baraja setting up a 2-0 victory over Liverpool in a one-sided group B opener. Aimar opened the scoring for the Spaniards on 20 minutes, ghosting into space on the Liverpool right to take a pass from Baraja and tuck his shot past Jerzy Dudek. Baraja took advantage of some hesitant Liverpool defending to add the second 19 minutes later, drilling home from just outside the box as the visitors backed off. The English side briefly threatened a comeback in the second half but the sending-off of Dietmar Hamann with 13 minutes to go stopped them in their tracks, and Valencia might well have added further goals in a furious closing spell. With Liverpool coach Gerard Houllier opting to start without Michael Owen, and Steven Gerrard and Hamann content to sit deep in midfield, Valencia enjoyed almost complete domination in the early stages. The graft of Baraja and Aimar's dizzying skill gave them the run of midfield, while Francisco Rufete was proving more than a match for Djimi Traore down the right. Rufete blasted a shot over on seven minutes at the end of Valencia's first real menacing attack and two minutes later the lively John Carew sent in a dangerous cross that Liverpool only just managed to clear. Aimar came close to converting a second cross from the left before the breakthrough came. Rufete and Curro Torres worked the ball in from the right and back to David Albelda. Baraja, taking over from his midfield colleague, then supplied a perfect pass for Aimar to slip through the Liverpool defence and clip a low shot into the corner. Liverpool had just one clear chance in the first half, Emile Heskey squirting wide from a narrow angle after Hamann had done well to rob the ball in midfield. The premier league side were unable to keep possession for any length of time, though, and it was no surprise when Valencia scored again. A startled-looking Liverpool defence made the mistake of backing off as Baraja advanced through the middle, and the Spanish international smacked a shot inside Dudek's right-hand post. Houllier acted at halftime to bring on French midfielder Bruno Cheyrou for Salif Diao and Owen for the ineffective El Hadji Diouf, and for a while Valencia were made to look uncomfortable. Gerrard began to see more of the ball and Owen was looking lively but their best chance of the game went begging when Santiago Canizares turned a close-range Cheyrou shot round the post. Shortly afterwards Hamann received his second booking for tangling with substitute Mista, and Liverpool's hopes of a comeback went with him. Summary Valencia 2 Liverpool 0 - result Champions League, group B Scorers: Pablo Aimar 20, Ruben Baraja 39 Red card: Dietmar Hamann (Liverpool) 77 Halftime: 2-0; Attendance: 38,000 Teams: Valencia: 1-Santiago Canizares; 23-Curro Torres, 4-Roberto Ayala, 2-Mauricio Pellegrino, 15-Amedeo Carboni; 19-Francisco Rufete (10-Miguel Angel Angulo 75), 6-David Albelda (22-Gonzalo de los Santos 84), 8-Ruben Baraja, 14-Vicente; 21-Pablo Aimar (20-Mista 71), 7-John Carew Liverpool: 1-Jerzy Dudek; 30-Djimi Traore, 4-Sami Hyypia, 21-Salif Diao (28-Bruno Cheyrou 46), 23-Jamie Carragher; 18-John Arne Riise, 16-Dietmar Hamann, 17-Steven Gerrard, 13-Danny Murphy (5-Milan Baros 76); 9-El Hadji Diouf (10-Michael Owen 46), 8-Emile Heskey Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany) FC Basel defeats Spartak Moscow 2-0BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Swiss double winners FC Basel claimed their maiden Champions League victory with a comfortable 2-0 win over Spartak Moscow at St Jakob Park on Tuesday.Second-half goals from strikers Hakan Yakin and Julio Rossi earned coach Christian Gross's side, who knocked out Scottish champions Celtic in the last qualifying round, their first ever victory in Europe's premier club competition. "We played with a lot of conviction and played well," Gross said. "We had a number of chances and I think that was key to our success. "The whole team played well tonight. It was an all-around performance from us and it was very pleasing. It is good to get our first win in the Champions League." Basel struck the woodwork in the opening period when Murat Yakin's header rebounded off the post after he perfectly met Mario Cantaluppi's left-wing cross. Hakan Yakin netted the opener after 50 minutes when he slotted home following impressive play by Argentine front man Christian Gimenez. Rossi doubled the advantage five minutes later, breaking Spartak's offside trap before coolly finishing past goalkeeper Stanislav Cherchesov. The home side were denied a third when Hakan Yakin's header from Bernt Haas's delicate chip came back off the crossbar. Spartak Moscow coach Oleg Romantsev was disappointed by his team's performance. "We did not play as well as we should, and we did not get the result we were looking for," Romantsev said. Summary Basel 2 Spartak Moscow 0 - result Champions League, group B Scorers: Hakan Yakin 50, Julio Rossi 55 Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 29,500 Basel - 1-Pascal Zuberbuhler, 4-Alexandre Quennoz, 7-Antonio Esposito, 10-Hakan Yakin (14-Nenad Savic 87), 12-Sebastien Barberis, 13-Christian Gimenez, 15-Murat Yakin, 17-Mario Cantaluppi, 20-Bernt Haas, 24-Timothee Atouba, 33-Julio Rossi (11-Herve Tum 75) Spartak Moscow - 45-Stanislav Cherchesov, 2-Yuri Kovtun, 3-Baye Kebe, 4-Jerry Tchuisse, 7-Vasily Baranov (8-Marcelo Jose Da Silva 56), 11-Vladimir Beschastnykh, 13-Dmitri Kouudryashov, 14-Maxim Kalinichenko (29-Igor Mitreski 72), 20-Aleksander Danishevski, 34-Moises Moura Pineiro, 55-Dmitri Khlestov (42-Okon Flo Essien 75) Referee: Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark)
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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